# data[].attributes.headline
Views of Other Characters on the Relationship

# data[].attributes.subject
Views of Other Characters on the Relationship

# data[].attributes.body
In comparison to the intense connection that Heathcliff and
Catherine share the other relationships that they participate in appear
half-hearted and dull. For example Catherine’s marriage to Edgar Linton is
tainted by her attachment to Heathcliff.

# data[].attributes.body
“We crowded round, and over Miss Cathy’s head I had a peep
at a dirty, ragged, black haired child; big enough both to walk and talk:
indeed, its face looked older than Catherine’s; yet, when it was set on its
feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish,
that nobody could understand.”

Mr Earnshaw brings Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights after a
trip to Liverpool; he describes how he found him “starving, and houseless, and
as good as dumb, in the streets of Liverpool”. Throughout Catherine and
Heathcliff’s first encounter the foundling is dehumanised and discriminated
against through the use of harsh comments from the adults in the room such as referring
to him as a “gipsy brat”. This establishes an initial divide between Catherine
and Heathcliff due to class and ethnicity, although this is divide is almost
immediately broken down when their close friendship begins to flourish.

# data[].attributes.body
Class and Social Divisions -The relationship between these two characters starts at a point when they appear to be both equal in sense of class and social standing. They are young children who enjoy playing on the moors together and mock the two children who are seen as upper or middle class, that live at Thrushcross Grange. However after Cathy is attacked by a dog and left to recuperate at Thrushcross for five weeks she undergoes a transformation. Her manners become "much improved" and her hands are also "wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying in doors". This not only highlights the dramatic difference between the two, now different, class status' but also shows that barriers placed between Catherine and Heathcliff as his hands are described in direct contrast as "dismally beclouded". Two years after her visit to Thrushcross Grange Cathy is described by Nelly as being "the queen of the countryside; she had no peer; and she did turn out a haughty, headstrong creature!" implying that she has now reached the high class that she wanted.

Love - Although the two character start their relationship as friends by the time that Catherine is sixteen and Edger has proposed to her she admits her love for Heathcliff, however she also says that she loves Edger. She does however say that she loves Edger Linton "because he is handsome, and pleasant to be with" which is not as convincing to the reader as the love she has for Heathcliff which in this chapter she heavily links to her "heart" and "soul". Catherine associates her and Edger's love to the heaven in this chapter showing that she feels it is something she should aspire to. Throughout the novel the love that Heathcliff and Catherine share is represented as deeper and more like soul mates than the love between the other characters. "My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath". "In every cloud, in every tree—filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day—I am surrounded with her image!". "... I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul."

Revenge - Revenge is a major theme of the novel. Early in the novel Heathcliff is described as plotting revenge, and the second half of the novel is dominated by Heathcliff's revenge against Hindley and his descendants for his mistreatment of him and against Edgar and his descendants for Catherine's death. Heathcliff's revenge affects everyone in the novel, and he seems to think that if he can revenge Catherine's death, he can be with her. He has been looking for her since her death, as he has been sensing her near him. However, it is only at the end of the novel, when he has given up his plans for revenge, that he is able to see Catherine and that he is reunited with her.

Nature - This theme is portrayed in this relationship with particular relevance to Heathcliff as his character is often linked to the outside world around them. Heathcliff's personality is often very wild and destructive which is similar to the surrounding moors.